The agency planned to produce statistical studies every five years. A study was done in 1979, but the agency no longer has a copy of that data. In 1982, the agency began producing annual studies, but no study was conducted for the reporting year 1984.

Part of:

Record Group 58: Records of the Internal Revenue Service

Function and Use:

The agency produced the Statistics of Income Studies of private foundations to tabulate and present statistical income tax information to the public. The studies were designed to provide reliable estimates of total assets and total revenues based on a sample of tax returns.

Scope & Content Note:

This series contains records based on data from a stratified sample of Forms 990-P, the tax return filed by private foundations and, after 1979, IRS Code section 4947(a)(1) charitable trusts treated as private foundations. Sampling rates ranged from 100 percent for returns with large amounts of assets to a small percent for returns with small amounts of assets. The data include the name of the organization and information on revenues, including sources of income and investments; expenses, including distributions; and assets and liabilities.

Access Restrictions:

Unrestricted

General Note:

A private foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation, association or trust which is narrowly supported and controlled, usually by an individual, family or corporation, as opposed to an organization receiving broad support from a large number of sources within the general public. A charitable trust described in Internal Revenue Code section 4947(a)(1) is a trust that is not tax exempt, all of the unexpired interests of which are devoted to one or more charitable purposes, and for which a charitable contribution deduction was allowed under a specific section of the Internal Revenue Code.The definition of large assets and small assets changed over the years. An example from 1989 shows that the sample included 100 percent of foundation returns with assets (book value) of $10 million or more and 100 percent of charitable trusts with assets of $1 million or more. The remaining foundation sample population was randomly selected at various rates: 5.3 percent for returns with assets less than $100,000; 6.1 percent for returns with assets of $100,000 million to less than $1 million; and 15.3 percent for returns with assets of $1 million to less than $10 million. The remaining trust population was randomly selected at two rates: 29.4 percent for returns with assets less than $100,000; and 45.5 percent for returns with assets of $100,000 to less than $1 million.The Private Foundation Study File for 1974 and the 990-PF Part VIII Study Files for 1993-1995 are not included in the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) resource.